Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor must be very relieved. After the vitriolic ridicule over naming their son Taimur, they are finally old news. The media and those devouring every bit of sensationalism have just as abruptly moved on to greener pastures, quite literally.
Uttarakhand is not the most happening of places on the year-end calendar; it is far removed from the celebrity-a-minute spotting in Goa at this time of the year or the unaffected-by-demonetisation droves heading with their wealth to Dubai to party at the Burj.
So when Virat Kohli and his girlfriend Anushka Sharma touched down in the laid-back hill state around Christmas, how could there not be a deeper meaning to this year-end vacation? Was there one last scoop that 2016 would deliver as we waited with baited breath for the Prime Minister's speech to ring in (or dim) our New Year celebrations?
It seems not. The cricket captain responded on Twitter, denying all rumours of getting engaged to the actress and ending, as he said, our "confusion". Reports of a ring ceremony were based on the somewhat absurd assumption that just because Amitabh Bachchan and the Ambanis were at the same Ananda spa resort, they were part of a VIP guest list for an engagement. Personally, I think some folks - Virushka among them - would be just fine without their blessings!
Stardom is a double-edged sword. The more you embrace it, the more a legion of fans, a raucous social media and a gasping paparazzi insist on re-writing your destiny, even if it's time-out season and they should ideally just be thanking their karma and counting down to the new year. Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma may actually do themselves some good by getting hitched, there is no bigger fatigue factor for the media than a boring married couple! Or they could do us some good by giving us what we want - India's sweethearts in a big, fat, Bollywood-cricket wedding.
In a country that is always desperate for heroes as a distraction, there can be no bigger celebrity couple than a cricketer dating a top actress. Imran Khan had one eye on the field and another on Zeenat Aman; the legendary Viv Richards and Neena Gupta gave us Masaba; and we really want more. For starters, Virat is not just the captain of the Indian cricket team, a stature that defies any definition, but in international cricket, he is also the player with the Midas touch.
Even off the field, he has not shied away from any bouncer. Whether it was his public reprimand of the trolls who went for Anushka on Twitter blaming her for his score of just a single run in the World Cup semi-final in Australia, or his reaction while they were briefly broken up, 28-year-old Virat has delivered a masterclass for other celebrities in the country who play coy about their affairs, but leave nothing much to the imagination.
Virat and Anushka have been pretty straight up right from the start with us. He blew kisses and pointed to her in the stadium, she beamed, and we were right there, front row. Not just that, their strolls in tattered jeans or a casual dinner outing while not dressed to the nines (unlike a Malaika Arora who looks like she is ready to perform one of her many hit songs even outside a café), resonates with young India which believes there is no shame in dating.
I have not always been a fan of Virat Kohli. As the captain of the U-19 cricket winning team, his story captivated me: a talented middle-class boy who saw stupendous success at a very young age despite losing his father. But that image was constantly disturbed by his impulsive brash attitude and his endless fracas with the media. Virat has now matured and does what real stars do, letting his work do the talking. What can be a bigger tribute to a player than the fact that every time he goes out on to the field, a country of a billion believes he can swing it for them?
As for plucky, lanky Anushka, perhaps she doesn't want to risk the career slump or fading out that inevitably follows an actress' marriage. Tabloids insist the 'M' word is why the couple had broken up earlier as well and since usually there is no smoke without fire (he was ready, she wasn't), many of us are silently batting for Virat.
Frankly, Virat and Anushka are like any other double income couple juggling their careers and personal life. We get that. But it's been a while since we really had a voluptuous celebrity wedding to sink our teeth into. So here's hoping...
(Jyotsna Mohan Bhargava worked with NDTV for more than a decade and now writes on a variety of topics for several news organisations.)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.